#give me your art skills op

[icecruncher2000]

AAAAAA COOL ART

ain’t that a kick in the head

[ohimsummer]

RANDOM HORROR GAMER! SATORU HCS

— one(1) suggestive under the cut so minors dni, gamer! gojo x reader, established rs, explicit language, some gamer! reader, pet names (sweetums, baby, (my) love), the link has body horror!!, horror-loving gojo in general <3

⭑ ࣪ ˖ sum’z notes.ᐟ gojo playing outlast and resident evil and silent hill and fnaf and and

horror gamer! satoru who always likes you around whenever he starts playing. doesn’t matter if you’re cooking, showering, or out for the day—and prefers you in his lap while in his comfy gaming chair, but if you’re even just on the bed nearby then that’s totally okay, too.

horror gamer! satoru who finds it so cute when the jumpscares actually startle you. laughs when you let out a yelp or a scream, giggling a ‘relax, baby’ as if his heart didn’t stop for a second at the same scare.

horror gamer! satoru who asks your opinions and recommendations on what games to play, even if you know nothing about them. if he’s stuck between two games, he’ll let you be the tiebreaker, shoving the two options in your face for you to choose from even if your reasons are inane. ‘you like the art on this one better? the title sounds cooler? okay, come check it out with me!’

horror gamer! satoru who finds it comforting whenever you’re cuddled under him while he plays. your scent and the warmth of your body soothes him, makes the scares a little less frightening and he calms down way quicker when he gets to hug you so tight. (refers to you as his emotional support y/n)

horror gamer! satoru who’s just about always eating his words about how terrified the game is making him. talks so much shit going ‘oh this dumbass monster isn’t even that scary’ and you just like to humor him even though you can feel his heart pounding in his chest.

horror gamer! satoru who enjoys when you also talk a little trash with him. ‘i could totally take that monster on, right, baby?’ ‘hell yeah, it looks weak as shit, you could destroy that thing.’

horror gamer! satoru and you both frantically talking over eachother when he gets to a fast-paced area of the game, parts that require swift puzzle-solving or thinking quickly on your feet. ‘fuckfuckfuck where do i go, where do i go ?!’ ‘that way, THAT WAY, no the other way, oh my god, run!!’

horror gamer! satoru who likes handing you the mouse/controller and watching you play. guides you through some parts when you get confused, and always returns your victorious grin when you’re able to get past the really scary or difficult areas by yourself.

‘look at my baby gettin’ through the little mini-boss after 26– ow, fine, 18 tries! so proud of you, sweetums, guess my super-awesome gaming skills are rubbin’ off on ya, huh?’

horror gamer! satoru who lets you get jumpscared even when he knows a scare is coming up. ‘didn’t wanna ruin the experience for ya, baby’ while he’s almost spitting out his water from trying to hold back laughter.

horror gamer! satoru who you have to gently drag away from his setup when he starts getting frustrated. he’s been stuck on this one part for hours now because of rng or the boss is just ‘stupid and rigged’ and insanely hard. you can see his jaw clench, his moves getting sloppier in his exasperation.

horror gamer! satoru let’s you pepper kisses up and down his neck, over his jaw and cheeks, on his forehead as you murmur suggestions to take a break in his ear. you hold your own drink up in an offer for him to take a sip, before slipping away to grab one of his favorite sweet treats to hopefully ease his frustrations. ‘give it a rest and come cuddle with me for a bit, my love, you can always try again later.’

horror gamer! satoru who buys another controller (in your favorite color) so he can play co-op horror games with you. he loves watching you improve, proud when he doesn’t have to carry you as hard anymore. and it feels so much more fun because it’s like you’re experiencing the scares together, not the same as when you’re just watching him play.

horror gamer! satoru who goes horror game-hunting with you. he loves that your interest in them has grown so much, and you two can actually talk in detail about them since your ‘horror knowledge’ isn’t at base level anymore.

horror gamer! satoru likes that you’re not just watching him play and listening to him explain what’s going on anymore. you’re more heavily intrigued in the game lore and spotting tiny details or references in the games.

you’re playing a multiplayer horror game with satoru, exploring a different room of the house since you two have split up to cover more ground.

‘oh, wow! satoru, look at this little figure on the desk!’

his avatar makes its way over, and he’s a little excited to see the tiny evil within 2 reference on the piece of furniture.

‘it’s obscura, isn’t that so cool?’ ‘fuck yeah, wonder if there’s any more hidden around here somewhere?’ and you both keep an eye out for any other allusions to more horror game characters.

horror gamer! satoru who convinces you that playing in the dark is so much better. and it is, it makes the whole experience that much scarier, and you hate (love) it. you find yourself peeping into the dark shadows of the room, goosebumps raised on every inch of skin. and also wanting to punch satoru in the throat when he grazes a finger up the nape of your neck, laughing at your fright when you just about jump out of your skin.

horror gamer! satoru who buys little trinkets or figures of horror game characters. bought you a silent hill nurse figurine to go next to his of pyramid head. you both dressed up as said characters for a Halloween party once, and then ended up, um, undressing eachother in someone’s bathroom later that night…

horror gamer! satoru who knows all kinds of horror game trivia and he loves exchanging facts with you, even if you tell him stuff he already knows. again, he just loves that you share his favorite interest! tell him over and over about how [char.] is your favorite horror game villain or how [song] makes that scene so much creepier! he will eat it up again and again and again.

horror gamer! satoru who gets so excited whenever you present a new game to him, especially if it’s one he hasn’t seen before! ‘holy shit, baby is this a new release? fuck, we have to play this tonight!’

a casual (horror-themed) date night with horror gamer! satoru could be going out to see a new scary movie in theatres, or even just staying in to play your favorite horror games together. on nights like those, he likes to suggest cheesy, parody, or nostalgic horror games like slenderman or some .EXE game.

tagz: @anthoosies @staryukis @hellkaiserinphoenix @biscuitsngravie @elusivemoon @rxddxvotion @babytoshiii

[somerandomdudelmao]

I think this scene is so far my favorite part of the whole comic. Those three panels put my little writer's soul at ease. Major kudos from a storytelling point! It just accomplishes so freaking much. It highlights all of Leo's best character traits (love, strategic thinking, leadership skills), and fixes the problem of having an OP character in your story that otherwise would be able to solve the main conflict in a heartbeat. It does so much for Mikey. There is no one-person-per-portal limitation and I'll always end up wondering why they would not gather the resistance and simply take everyone and go. Sure Mikey might die or end up being left behind if he does so and of course, Leo/April/Casey would try to stop him but in the end, I feel like he would do it anyway cause as long as his family is saved Mikey does not mind. But with this clever twist, he can't do that, cause Leo would be stuck with him, alone and with no resources, and doomed. Not an option. Mikey loves his family above all. Don't get me wrong I think he'd sacrifice his own life to help everyone else (he does so already), but he would never sacrifice his brother. It's a greedy and beautiful love that always gets to me. The moral dilemma of one versus the many. Revealing the core of who you are and what you stand for. It makes him so much more real, more human. It elevates his character from good to great...

I don't know scenes like this - one willing to sacrifice himself and the other refusing - tend to come with a bitter aftertaste. But Leo is not brushing Mikey off. He says not 'no', therefore allowing Mikey's own agency to shine. And in adding his condition he still gives Mikey a choice ultimately helping to shoulder his brother's burden.

Don't get me started on Mikey's 'thank you' as a response cause I already have tears in my eyes! Here both of them bring the best out in each other and the thing I love the most is that it's never at the cost of the other.

All in all this scene is a great character moment, explains plot holes (from the movie), and did I forget something? Ah yes, sets up the upcoming conflict of Casey having to choose between them. And oh my gosh, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes. Leo's declaration to stay with Mikey makes it kinda unlikely for him to go with Casey and leave Mikey behind and though Mikey has some wiggle room in this regard, it is a decision that will not come lightly aka it hurts just to think about separating them...but then again they might even are not together in the first place. Wherever this may be. Who knows?

Thank you so much for creating and sharing this beautiful piece of art!!!

I..mhm..I mean...igdjndukvdjj sorry my brain don't want to do English words today. Thank you oh my god I don't know what to say it's just

T h i s

[ultrakillmmmyes]

YO WHAT THE FUCK

Ultratober days 1-3

Favourite soundtrack: Order

[verlierer-is-lost]

I have been wanting to talk about this for a while, especially since I keep seeing it on Twitter

For the most part, I agree with this tweet. I struggle to make the PJO cast look like themselves. It’s really important to get those features right. That being said, we also have to remember that a good chunk of the PJO fan artists are inexperienced artists. While there are a lot of artists who are just flat out racist, there’s also the group of artists who have a harder time drawing from life. I’ve seen so many amazing artist who clearly know how to draw black people, but their Annabeth fanart still doesn’t look like Leah.

No hate to the op, again I think she’s right to an extent, but it is so frustrating seeing mainly non artists saying this. And there are so many people in the comments saying “it’s so easy” when it really isn’t. Drawing from life is a skill that comes with practice. And whether you know how to draw black people or not, you’re probably going to have a tough time drawing any of the PJO cast if you don’t have that skill. Thankfully tho, there are a few simple ways you can improve on drawing from like:

I have some notes for Walker and Leah specifically, just because I think they’re the hardest to get right. (I know this probably seems creepy, but it’s so helpful to look at refs) This is all basic info you can find anywhere, it’s not revolutionary or anything

Walker:

-The eyebrows to me are the most important part. They’re much darker, and close to his eyes.

-He also has a pretty straight nose. Drawing him with a button nose will make him look like a random white blond boy

Leah:

-Again, the eyes and eyebrows are pretty important. Her eyebrows are thin and long. And her eyes have shadows underneath(plus she kinda has doll like eyes)

-round face

To show what I’m talking about, I did a quick doodle of Leah from reference. For me personally, when I draw from life I like to pick out a few distinct features that makes them feel real. It’s pretty bad because again I’m not the type of artist to typically draw from life, which is why art study’s can be super helpful to spend time on.

I really dislike when non artist complain about what fan artists are doing. We do this for free, in our free time, for a community that we love. But I also think it’s important to LISTEN TO CRITIQUES. If someone is telling you your Annabeth fanart is too light, you need to listen. As much as I agree with OP that this is predominantly a Leah issue, it isn’t just Leah. I can see throughout the fandom that a lot of artists are having a hard time drawing the characters(and I’m one of them). The PJO fandom has not had real people to base their drawings off of until two years ago, which is probably the reason a lot of us are having trouble with it. Even outside of this fandom I have a hard time with this. It took so much practice for me to get Alex and Henry right from RWRB, and I still can barely draw Henry 😭

Even some of the most experienced artist have difficulty drawing from life, again it’s a skill that takes practice. Anytime you see PJO fanart that actually looks like the actors, it’s probably because they just have more practice, or they’re more experienced artists.

I’m honestly having a hard time finding what OP is talking about when she said “artists draw Annabeth as a random black girl while referencing Walker for Percy” I was looking through saved work of other Percabeth fanart, and I see the same issue for Walker. I don’t doubt that there is work out there she’s referring to, I just can’t find it myself.

Sorry if this was a garbled mess of a post. I know it was really long, but hopefully this can help some artists to pick up on distinct facial features and replicate it in their own artwork. Trust me, as an artist I know it isn’t easy, but practice will always help. Best thing about being an artist is there’s always room for improvement

(Also don’t forget to give Leah black features 👍🏽)

[somerandomcockroach]

Okay I really felt like exploding mentally not in a good way so putted it out in random little written scenes (bullshitting with canon and fanon because canon is fanon). Prowl and Jazz as main acting characters yesss because apparently I love these boys

_________Intercity training competition_________

The whole audition was so loud with noises despite everyone trying to whisper as quiet as possible. First time in all intercity training competition history, where chosen young mechs from everywhere in Cybertron gather together to find better rising generation of sparks, the bot won all his sparring partners in a row without losing once. Gunrunner with satisfied smile wrote down statistics about this battle. “Mistakes took place, but you give big perspectives with your agility and unpredictability.” Gunrunner already had plans on this rookie once ops group starts running.

Jazz, visibly grasping at air with ventilation at full speed, was smiling in such bright manner, showing his sparking optics behind protective glass. His smile, his reflections from black coating, his figure, still going up and down after all the battles he had – everything in him was so irresistibly refreshing and attractive. This young bot made the audience start whispering again, but on absolutely different topic this time. He still was standing over his opponent, other one was looking at him from bottom to top breathing as deep as other one, leaning on the elbow folds. Young mechs had no hard feelings against each other, everything around them was steaming with happiness over a good battle. Jazz offered his hand and helped him stand up.  

“Ya’r very brave to challenge me last but ya fought good, brotha’. Your name?” They shacked hands as a sigh of a friendly and fair battle. “Guzzle. Better to fight and lose than to never fight at all” “Oh, we’r so gonna have a drink at the end of the event!” Jazz squeezed his hand so tightly and laughed so sincerely happy. They walked out of ring shoulder to shoulder. The white and black mech with pointy red chevron, the only thing showing him off the crowd so vividly, was observing all the battles from the balcony. He still couldn’t calm down his spark after what he saw, it was such an incredible and new way of martial arts for him: wild, unpredictable, dexterous, fast and oppressive. Absolute opposite of the clear and refined, gentle manner of his hometown. He couldn't hold back his smile throughout all 10 sparring sessions, periodically jerking his shoulders in surprise, sometimes looking as if into space, trying to calculate something in his head. His brother, clearly shorter than him, tapped at his hand. Only this was able to get older brother out of entrancement he was in. “Brother, calculation simulations will begin soon” ‘Right,’ he answered with only kind look of his eyes. ‘Now my turn.’

______My priority of orders starts from J_______

“Prowl, you are not allowed to go out! You stay here! It’s an order!” Prowl’s door wings rose up in in a threatening and irritated manner. He quickly turned his head, narrowing his optics. Sharp, cold blue, freezing. Yet his lips were treacherously clanging. “You are not my commander to give me commands” “Oh, no! I have an order to keep you safe! Order from Optimus Prime itself! Do you not understand how worthy your skills are? You are not allowed to get out of here until it becomes safe, why do you even try to get out of here?” The blue light was getting darker and closer to the security bot who happened to be so unlucky to be the closest to Prowl to get this order. Red chevron towered over this hesitant mech, his knees bent under the pressure of this unbending figure. It was the first time in all his time working here, when he was truly afraid of the tactician. “I was working hand to hand with “Optimus itself” when he was just an officer,” Prowl pressed his finger into the center of the bumper with enough strength to make bot step back. “and I dare you have no right to stand on my way nor Optimus’ orders. Contact him and say that I’ve lost touch with ops, you won’t be dismissed with this explan-“ The loud crash of a broken door was heard behind interrupting him mid-sentence, Prowl stood up and lowered his wings to cover trembling mech in front of him. “Prowl, jump on, I caught signal of Jazz’s location”, there was Silverbolt straight to the help and old Orion’s group protecting main operating station alongside with other autobots. Prowl gave him a pleased smirk, his optics immediately softened (to the relief of security bot), not even thinking much he ran and jumped on top of the aerial, “long time no see, old timer. All unnecessary chatting on our way.”

[cios-correct-opinions]

@evilkaeya @aaabatteryy @starrynightarchive

see my other post about this here

to tl;dr this: when it comes to fandom and content creators, ppl tend to make content of the characters they already love and thus think about most often, which leads to, at times, male characters getting genderbent into women either thru cis or trans hcs, bc they are both genderbending, thats the definition of the term bc youre changing their gender, and getting mad at people for not, in your opinion, "appreciating" the female characters enough, is not doing anything except making people feel bad for not having the "correct" feelings about a character at best, or making them actively angry and thus fueling them to create more of that thing you hate out of spite at worst (for you anyway, not for the people who like it).

this doesnt mean they dont give a shit abt the other characters who arent their faves, but to create a work of art, you need to be able to like. care enough to do it. and that requires more care than just a general enjoyment or appreciation of a character, especially if the work in question is time intensive/would be time intensive, like writing a chapter fic/thousands of words long oneshot, or making a fully rendered piece of art, etc. obvi this will depend on the skill and energy levels of the artist we're talking about but yknow, on a general scale

op of this post blocked me so i cant respond directly on it but, for context

first of all: i'm not illiterate but i'm beginning to think some people on this post might be, given this response, because it is so clearly Not what i was talking about it's a little wild, actually!

also i hate to tell yall this, but the reason you don't often see people genderbending female characters to male anymore is bc of the spread of radfem ideology thru fandom spaces like wildfire. ppl genuinely lose their shit when ppl even have transmasc or trans man headcanons for characters assumedly cis female in the source material (which is genderbending btw. them being trans doesnt mean it isnt genderbending anymore you are still changing their gender thus it is genderbending thats the definition fellas) bc they fucking hate men and the idea of men existing

sorry not sorry but if you get mad at ppl who genderbend female characters into transmascs/trans men (transmascs aren't always genderbends, bc you can be transmasc and also a woman, but i digress/for the sake of brevity...) and go "you're TAKING AWAY a GOOD FEMALE CHARACTER!" i need you to stop for a second and consider why these people - most of whom are trans men/transmascs themselves - might be doing that to a character they like.

9/10 times when i see a cis genderbend of a male character to be female, the person doing it is a cis woman. when i see genderbends, of any kind, of a female character to be male or masc? it's almost always done by a trans man and/or a transmasc. and inevitably, they are almost always dogpiled for it with disgusting levels of hate. i've seen it happen so many times i stopped attempting to count a long time ago

don't come up here saying "you NEVER see-" because actually i see all of those things happen all the time. ppl love genderbending men characters into women, or emasculating/demasculinizing/feminizing them in order to make them personally more appealing, or saying "[mlm ship] would be better if it was two girls/wlw/two fem-aligned/etc" all the fucking time. and while i realize this is often a way for the people who say this to like, try to lash out at common misogynistic/lesbiphobic/transmisogynistic/etc sentiment irl, in doing so, they are not doing it in a way that allows for a nuanced understanding of their fellow fandom-goers. they make blanket sweeping statements and then dogpile people who disagree

the moment you start treating entire demographics of people as if they are a hivemind or a single identity, the moment you decide that something "never" happens bc you personally have not seen it? youve already lost any possible chance you mightve had at making a good point

[clover-the-awesomest]

THE STYLE OH MY GOSH THE MESSY LINE ART THE FLOW OF THE LIMBS THE ARC THE DESIGNS THE COLORS THE FILTER THE EVERYTHING

I am in love.

Jazz

[royal-wren]

hi!! would you be open to sharing some of your experiences with worshipping the kharites? how have they impacted your life? i'm interested but there's so little information surrounding them. thank you so much :D

Ah hell yeah! I'll jump on any chance to talk about them!

I love the elder Kharites so much, sure I honor ALL of them but the first three are the ones directly in my life, and the third to have a statue on my altar. My main go-to with them is every art that has to do with writing, those that really eat up poetry and storytelling in all forms. They're givers of joy, grace, beauty, and eloquence, and the ones I lean on most for my own writing more than anyone else in company with two that they're in the retinue (staunch companions) of Hermes and Aphrodite. I feel like I might be the odd one out on my tendency to lean on them with H and A over the Mousai and Apollon, but it's just what feels most right for me. I can't dream of it being the latter when in my mind the five in question embody what grips and makes writing special while also being patrons of the arts.

To put it into perspective and why I went from honoring, to actively worshipping and now being their devotee and crediting them with every piece I make:

Bacchylides, Fragment 10 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV) (C5th B.C.) : "Truly the skilled man [poet or artisan] prospers in golden hope, whether he has won honour from the Kharites (Charites, Graces)."

Pindar, Nemean Ode 4. 6 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "If that man with the Kharites' (Charites', Graces') favour haply bring forth the heart's deep mood to live upon the tongue."

Pindar, Olympian Ode 14. 1 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "Whose haunts are by Kephissos' (Cephisus') river, you queens beloved of poets' song, ruling Orkhomenos (Orchomenus), that sunlit city and land of lovely steeds, watch and ward of the ancient Minyan race, hear now my prayer, you Kharites (Charites, Graces) three. For in your gift are all our mortal joys, and every sweet thing, be it wisdom, beauty, or glory, that makes rich the soul of man. Nor even can the immortal gods order at their behest the dance and festals, lacking the Kharites' aid"

From their theoi page: "The character and nature of the Charites are sufficiently expressed by the names they bear: they were conceived as the goddesses who gave festive joy and enhanced the enjoyments of life by refinement and gentleness. Gracefulness and beauty in social intercourse are therefore attributed to them. (Horat. Carm. iii. 21, 22; Pind. Ol. xiv. 7, &c.) They are mostly described as being in the service or attendance of other divinities, as real joy exists only in circles where the individual gives up his own self and makes it his main object to afford pleasure to others. The less beauty is ambitious to rule, the greater is its victory; and the less homage it demands, the more freely is it paid. These seen to be the ideas embodied in the Charites. They lend their grace and beauty to everything that delights and elevates gods and men. This notion was probably the cause of Charis being called the wife of Hephaestus, the divine artist. The most perfect works of art are thus called the works of the Charites, and the greatest artists are their favourites. The gentleness and gracefulness which they impart to man's ordinary pleasures are expressed by their moderating the exciting influence of wine (Hor. Carm. iii. 19. 15; Pind. Ol. xiii. 18), and by their accompanying Aphrodite and Eros. (Hom. Od. viii. 364, xviii. 194; Paus. vi. 24. § 5.) They also assist Hermes and Peitho to give grace to eloquence and persuasion (Hesiod. Op. 63), and wisdom itself receives its charms from them. Poetry, however, is the art which is especially favoured by them, whence they are called erasimolpoi or philêsimolpoi. For the same reason they are the friends of the Muses, with whom they live together in Olympus. (Hes. Theog. 64; Eurip. Herc. fur. 673; Theocrit. xvi. in fin.) Poets are inspired by the Muses, but the application of their songs to the embellishment of life and the festivals of the gods are the work of the Charites."

It certainly doesn't help that so many of the gods I focus on and are most important to my personal worship directly have them in their retinue or are their companions in the sense like the Mousai and the Horai where it's more an equal footing kind of thing versus what it's like with Hermes, Aphrodite, Apollon, Athene, Artemis, Dionysos, Hera, Hekate, and while it isn't noted anywhere, I can't see it in any other way than Hestia's inclusion as one of the trio leaders of festivities with Hermes and Dionysos and the Kharites embodying mirth, cheer/excitement, and festivities.

The best way to devote yourself to them and my go-to when I'm down and don't have the energy or focus and willpower to do much more is to do something for myself that will bring joy, comfort, and elation in their name. Hedonism and doing your hobbies go a long way with them.

Further reading:

The Graces in Ancient Greek Mythology

The Graces by Louis de Jaucourt

The three Graces, or the allegory of the gift published by Denis Vidal (also here if the other link dies)

Pausanias tries to visualize the three ‘Graces’ of Orkhomenos in Boeotia by Gregory Nagy

The Three Graces: Cosmic Harmony in Scève's Délie by Joan A. Buhlmann

The Three Graces: Composition and Meaning in a Roman Context by Jane Francis

[eroguron0nsense]

Little thing that occurred to me about Law and Haki

I've always attributed the "canon" reason for Law continually getting spanked or struggling in spite of his virtually unparalleled power to be that he's just comparatively worse at haki than a lot of his opponents. Generally speaking, you can work your way around a LOT of devil fruit powers or brute force through them if you've got enough spatial intelligence and haki to work your way around them (see Oden, Vergo, Shanks, presumably Roger). Law's haki is established in Punk Hazard/Dressrossa to be weaker than Vergo's and Doffy's, in spite of certain external factors that contributed to him losing fights he could have either won or done substantially better in, and that kind of leads a lot of people to thinking that Law's powers are too good and they just needed to nerf him so that the fights could actually be more difficult and give Luffy an actual chance to shine/make the stakes higher etc That much is absolutely true, and Law having more developed haki combined with the way he's learned to use the Ope Ope no Mi would probably make him damn near invincible. I do, however, think that there's a bit more to this–and a more plausible justification– than just Law being as vulnerable or outmatched as the series needs him to be at any point in time, which is that he's had little to no fucking opportunity to polish it.

So quick recap: Law probably had some understanding of how haki worked from his time training with the Donquixote family, who taught him everything he knows about martial arts/swordplay/combat that didn't involve devil fruits. After Minion Island and Cora's death, he makes his way to Swallow Island, finds Bepo being bullied by Penguin and Shachi, and eventually manages to recruit all three to start the Heart Pirates. The thing is, as Cora told Law before he died, eating the Ope Ope no Mi turns both Doffy and the Marines against Law and virtually leaves him all alone with three children who are weaker fighters than him, and unless Oda gives him a second backstory, we can presume Law had no other mentors the entire time. The entire foundation for Law learning Haki in a world where everyone who knew about him would have been hunting him down a la Nico Robin would just have been him working off of what he learned from the Donquixote family. We don't know how the rest of the worst generation picked it up except for Luffy, who despite having only really understood what it was recently, spent two years being mentored and trained intensively by one of the greatest haki users alive; Law presumably had to pick it up on his own in life or death circumstances and had to focus more on escape or evasion as a 13 year old with limited powers and going through the whole childhood Luffy process of actually learning how to utilize his devil fruit in combat, especially since the Ope Ope no Mi canonically involves a hell of a lot of skill, intricacy, and imagination to be able to use to its fullest potential. The difference in Law's ability and more experienced or better haki users is basically the difference between people who've been training in highly specific martial arts for a long time and someone who was good at karate until they had to stop taking classes in middle school, and basically had to try and build up any skills they had developed by that point entirely on their own with no external guidance. You can learn to hold your own in a fight but the actual skills involved in picking up haki either come under super specific circumstances or involve learning highly specialized skills under mentorship. The people who are really, really good at it either have years and years of experience honing it (every Yonko, Katakuri), had it knocked into them by someone who was better at it (see Luffy and Zoro's training arcs, Hyogoro helping Luffy build on what he'd learned from Rayleigh to finally pick up Ryuo), or levelled it up under very specific life or death circumstances after already having a background in it (see the Katakuri fight, or Luffy unlocking his Ryuo under duress). Law and his crew of babies were presumably running for their lives constantly or trying to live under the radar until they'd gotten a bit stronger so that Doffy didn't pick up on the fact that Law was out there and vulnerable; their circumstances just weren't quite the right ones to develop their haki as quickly or as strongly.

[fortheb0ys]

Need at least three dicks. Hendricks, Taylor and Khail. One for everyhole. I would give Khail a special treatment with bj because he is just our silly little boy and imo he if fem farah. Anyway. Also Khail makes me want to cuddle him. Like cuddles snuggles all the way. Also i want to Peg Hendricks. Peg not fuck. Taylor also will be fine but Hendricks. His smile is just so cute. Also i need more bots with them on all ai apps. Did i write it just because i noticed you fangirling Taylor? Maybe , did im gonna write oneshot from stuff i writen ealier ? Maybe , but first i need to write another fanfic. It will be inspired by codfan art . Did i Ask author of the fanart if i can write it and after getting premission i stayed quiet for few months already ? Yes. But i'm close to finishing planin the lore so be patient. But maybe writing one shots from Black ops isn't so bad for start....

Smiling hendricks

Also i want him to treat the strap like he is treating this chocolate thingy:

(pic by me)

Im horny. And sleepy. Dominik horny sleepy little fella. Like i wake up at 4am, fall back asleep and wake up at 6 and didn't even take a nap after it. Going to sleep and write some freaky stuff.

ALSO IM PLANING ROLEPLAY WITH MY POOKIE. BO3 ZOMBIES. AKA PRIMIS CREW AS 2024 OLDER TEENAGERS PLAYING MINECRAFT TOGETHER(RP WILL BE IN MC) ANYONE WANT TO JOIN ???? ITS GONNA BE SFW. ALL OCS WELCOME BUT WE NEED SOMEONE FOR THE ZOMBIE CREW

Khail my baby boy getting special treatment. I need him where I can see his pretty face. He's front and center. Your eyes locked with his as your mouth works at his cock. His pretty brows knitted together. The pleasure changes his face, somehow making more breathtaking than it already is.

You could get lost in those eyes and that you did. A sharp kick to your side reminds you of the added company. Hendricks is under you, demanding for shared attention. Your cock slipped out of his needy hole and as you were preoccupied with Khail, you had completely forgotten to stuff Hendricks back full.

Giving a huff around Khail's dick, you blindly guide your cock back in it's rightful place. You continue to suck and keep a rythm at the same time. As you were finally getting into it, a small whine reminds you that Taylor was left neglected. You take your eyes off Khail and let them fall on Taylor. His cock painfully red and weeping.

Your hand wraps around his hip and pull him closer. It's hard to maneuver around, pinned by both Khail and Hendricks but you find a way to reach behind Taylor. Spreading his ass, your fingers begin stretching his aching hole. A gentle hum sounds from deep in Taylor's throat. It's content and satisfied. Though he much rather throw Hendricks off of you, being the one to get fucked stupid on your cock, he'll take your skilled fingers as a win.

His hums turn into moans and grunts as you find yourself into your rythm again. Out of the three of them, Taylor was surprisingly the loudest. Maybe it was the long years of military service, spending quality time with just his right hand, that made him more sensitive than the others. His noises didn't seem to please Hendricks much, as Taylor let out a pained yelp. At first you thought you'd hurt him but as you pulled yourself off Khail, looking down you see Hendricks teeth buried into Taylor thigh.

You give him one deep thrust against his prostate, making Hendricks forget his problems with Taylor. His tip drips white. He's close, you think they all are.

Multitasking is something you're working on. Taking time for everyone as well as rewarding the most well behaved. Khail found him with your attention most of the time as Taylor and Hendricks were at each other throats to be your favorite.

The demand is tiring and you're just as close as the rest. You lap at the underside of Khail's cock, the vains dancing on your tongue. The salt taste fills your senses as he finishes down your throat. You swallow everything, licking his tip to not waste a single drop.

One down, two more to go.

Your fingers make quick work of Taylor's greedy hole. He takes in a third as the stretch becomes a burning pleasure. His grips your shoulders trying to steady himself as he begins to shake uncontrollably, as orgasm ripples through his body as he cums completely untouch.

Now all eyes are on Hendricks.

He smiles wide as your attention falls solely on him. You're pulled down into a rough kiss as you nail his prostate making him see stars. With a few more lazy thrusts, he cums screaming. He's completely lost in lust rotten brain as you follow shortly after cumming in his twitching walls.

With your last bit of strength you push yourself off Hendricks and fall onto the filthy sheets. Breathless you begin to let sleep overtake you, unwilling to do anything about the mess. Your eyes fall heavy as you fall asleep to the sound of Hendricks bickering with Taylor on who gets to cuddle you. A heavy weight curls up next to you as Khail takes the opportunity to be the one to hold you.

Pookie, if you write a fic I'd eat it up😭🫶 Writing these gave me life! I love the idea of having all of them in bed.

[ziipzeepzop-eez]

OHHHOHOHOOOOOOO

Commission for the lovely @agentturtlecupcake of Sunflower and Gen!! I loved drawing them, oh gosh, look how cute they are ;_;

[jacenotjason]

How would the opposite neighborhood react to seeing their original selfs?

i wanna draw this, but im gonna jot my thoughts down real quick!!

(Here’s the AU masterpost!)

Also doodles!!

They try their best to find something they have in common. I feel like OG Eddie is way to nice to be scared or like grossed out by Opposite, he’d just feel a little bad and wanna be his friend.

They talk about Frank, they have that in common. Like:

OG: …uhm.. arts and crafts?

OP: I’m not five? What about sports?

OG: I can’t follow along with all that..

OP: eugh… mm…

OG: …

OP: ..Frank?

OG: Frank!!

OP: Frank!

Oh they would hate each other. OG would be trying to be nice and then Opposite would insult his business model, and then they fight. I lowkey wanna see these two brawl, I think opposite would kick OGs ass no offense.

OP: *looking around OGs store* Where’s your price tags? The unlabeled scam is scummy, even for me.

OG: Hm? Oh, buddy, I don’t charge money for my products!

OP: … What?

OG: Yah! I prefer accepting other meanings of payment! Things much more valuable then money, friend!

OP: … That’s dumb.

OG: 🙂 what.

Then they BRAWL!! Ok probably not OG howdy probably doesn’t resort to violence. But a lot of insults are thrown back n forth hueurheye-

I honestly think they’d love each other. OP is basically Franny, and OG is OP.Franny they’d literally just:

OG&OP, at the same time: You look like my sister!!

Plus they both love fashion, and hair, and makeup, and Sally- ohmygod theyd be the best of friends i cant even theyd be so girlboss together

OG teaches her some games, and then OP teaches her some girlboss survival skills. Before they leave, OP gives her a pink sparkly pocket knife to remember her by :3

Yknow that fancy rich ppl thing ppl do where they kiss each others cheek? They do that

OG: My dear! Won’t you let me in? I’m you, you can trust me!

OP: what in gods name makes you think I trust myself..?

OG: We are one in the same, starlight! I am you, you are me! A mirrored doppelgänger of your own image! I don’t look to harm you, starlight! Put aside your distrust.. for yourself?

OP: haha… okay, shakesqueer…

Then OP lets her in :3

I have lots of thoughts about these two hanging out. OG makes her a new outfit after judging her gross clothes, lightheartedly ofc and OP is like “haha yeah its gross” and OP gets a cute dress! OP absolutely shocks and destroys OG in video games, they dance together, and they talk about Julie huehuehuehue

WAHHH THESE TWO! I honestly feel like theyd get along, but have little bickering about their different mothering styles.

OG: a.. punk mother? Interesting..

OP: whaat? My kids are all party animals, just like me! I can’t contain that.

OG: haha that’s fair.. I guess.. but.. partying? Thats so… much..

OP: …dude unclench your beak and live a little.

Someone calls OP Ma and OG is like “Ma? Thats so sweet.. i wish my neighbors called me mom :>..”

OG: a dog wearin’ pants? That ain’t right.

OP: aah.. it’s just.. to walk around half naked, is that not discomfiting?

OG: Discomfiting?? Thats a big ol’ word for a big ol’ dog.

OP: Ahaha… I’ve got a bit of a considerable vocabulary.

OG: you got a word-a-day calendar or somethin?

I feel like they’d be friends? Maybe?? OG kinda pokes fun at OP and OP is like “I’m talking to my opposite self :) dimension plane is real :) ain’t that wild :)”

OG: …

OP: .. :3

OG: …I have questions

OP: :D

OG: why the turtleneck?

OP: its like a shirt is giving my neck a hug! :D

OG: …ok. Why the hair?

OP: fluffy! :D

OG: no why is it white?

OP: I bleached it :D

OG: why?

OP: preti :D

[qedmirage]

Chapter 14 awaits! Let's go go go!!! As ever, gameplay thoughts first and then story thoughts below the cut. Which means...first off, disappointment!

Up until 13-5 instead of new mechanics you're dealing with Londinium Second Defence Artillery again, my least favorite arc 2 mechanic! At least I have a lot of practice dealing with it now. It was just kinda disappointing to see it come back...in my head I know it allows for a few interesting ways to handle things as you deliberately cause blue-on-blue incidents (for them) but I've never liked how it seems like the targeting can switch last second because a single scrimblo touched your defender. Once past that though we get a new mechanic, centered around these guys:

Bloodborn Spawn and Blood Ambers are hilariously tuned to be countered by Hoederer exactly. But enjoyably there's a bunch of ways past them. For those not familiar, the spawn deal arts damage and lifesteal; they also deal increased damage the more of them a single target is blocking. That makes them really good at chewing through defenders and really awful at fighting Crushers exactly; their enormous HP pools mean they're the best at tanking these guys. When defeated, Spawn turn into Ambers, which have enormous defences (3k Def, 90 Res) and negative taunt. If they're within the range of a Bloodcalling Altar, they'll die and spawn a Bloodborn Spawn at the altar when it activates its skill (every 20 seconds). So, many stages revolve around managing this endless tide of respawning arts-damage scrubs. And enjoyably, there's a ton of ways to deal with them! Some examples: - Hoederer's True damage to burn down Ambers - Virtuosa S3 to necrosis-> True damage Ambers - Ceobe S2 Mod3; with 3k defence she does enormous damage to Ambers - Manticore + Ascalon, who can infinitely stall the respawning horde - Pushers or Pullers to shove Spawn into holes, preventing respawning And I'm sure there's more. This was also the first episode I played entirely on its Hard (Adverse) mode, and it was a fun experience, with only 2 or 3 stages (13-5,13-15,13-21) giving me enough trouble that I felt the need to refer to a guide for ideas. The TF2 bomb-pushing mechanic is incredibly funny ('so then I rammed a VBIED into him') and gives Marksmen a day in the sun as the game's gradually inflating defences slowly leaves them behind. I suspect Exusiai would actually be good at killing phase 2 of the episode boss, if you could time it so her skill activates after a bomb hits him. The other new enemies are interesting enough; special mention to the Fluxcaster, which slowly grinds down my Ambusher Stall strat; and the Boneguard Torturer, who gets you thinking about splitting enemies up or using truly insane numbers of DPS. The Welfare op, Delphine, is cool and one of the few I've leveled, though I'm a known Mystic Caster partisan. I wish her last talent was just an anti-sarkaz one instead of a chapter 13 only one, but alas. Her animations and art are great though, 6* levels of glam on a free 5*. On to the story below the cut. Spoilers abound!

There's a lot that happens in this one, so much that it's kinda hard to pull out a specific overarching thread - it's an ensemble story alright - but I'm gonna be my boring self and start with the milhist portion. Which is, the Victorian Dukes get owned. This whole chapter is a gradually escalating military disaster that will be taught in Columbian war colleges to illustrate the perils of divided command.

For four goddamn years the Dukes have been locked in a stalemate with the KMC and each other. In that time they failed to stop enemy resupply, they failed to exert tactical and strategic pressure on their foe, and they failed to even begin to understand their opponent's strategic and political goals. In the earlier conversations the dukes and their staff are focused mostly on their future wars with each other, not the present war with the Sarkaz. They underestimated their foe and they paid dearly for it; because they gave Theresis time, time enough to build an airship that could blow them up at his leisure, time enough to construct the Shard, time enough to organize and then transport the Nachzeherer Legions via the Lifebone. This isn't actually unrealistic, imo, there are plenty of people IRL who have been way dumber - look up the battle of Bien Dien Phu. But it's striking how much their political infighting cripples them. Even with Caster's intelligence network penetrating Londinium, the Victorian Dukes didn't grasp that Theresis was going to go on the offensive and had the capability to do so. They didn't manage to find the Lifebone and its logistic network before an entire legion had appeared past their interdiction. They didn't even grasp the tactics of the Sarkaz military, until after Theresis's offensive started. The time factor is also truly unforgiveable when you keep in mind a remark that 75% of their armies are conscripts. For people who aren't huge nerds, that means they've been redlining their economies to support field armies full of workers who go and sit in trenches and stare at the Sarkaz while fields and factories go untended back home. For four years! Meanwhile Theresis has been conserving his strength, and only pulls a full mobilization of his best soldiers from Kazdel when he's ready for the decisive moment. And when that decisive moment comes at the end of the chapter, he commits all his forces in a singular thrust. If the Victorian Dukes had done the same at any point in the preceding four years, they'd have taken heavy losses, they may have lost their lives to the next duke to roll in - but they'd been able to win, instead of ceding the strategic initiative to Theresis and letting him choose to fight only when he's sure he can succeed.

They should have listened to Windmere. Anyways, on to other things - the Lifebone!

I love The Lifebone. It's kinda funny how each arc 2 chapter seems to have Theresis get a new mystical superweapon, but in a fun break from pattern the focus for this chapter is... a logistics vessel! It's weird and fantastical and somebody cared about logistics, I love it. Skeleton whale that dives through history to teleport cargo? fuck yeah. Other story bits... It's cool to see Siege step up and become a leader, though it's kinda sad to see the Self-Salvation Corps implode to make room for her to do so. Still, the Exemplars are cool and it's nice to see them fight. I like Amiya's final showdown with the Sanguinarch:

That's our king! She's very fierce!!

I also love the Logos Trans moment ('I thought all banshees were supposed to be girls?' 'correct.' 'oh ok'). But don't forget that in the same scene, Logos flashes back to the first time he used his bone whistle to mark a passing - for himself, and for the old identity of the Sarkaz, just before he left home. Symbolism!

The lives of the Brentwood civilians under occupation, and the Sarkaz officer's attempts to make it better, really ring to historical incidents for me. Alas, the KMC was not aiming for occupation so much as annihilation. The Reunion stuff this chapter was good to see too, their focus on being an all-hands liberation movement really gets to the core of the story past all the wizard nonsense. Not sure what Nowell's doing with them, I guess we'll deal with him later.

[snugglesquiggle]

i am asking about your ocs

give me a yap about one of your favorites >:3

you asked this in the middle of me trying to edit HT so i hope you know what you've done >.>

so um. my favorite is probably Mewla Asetari but i don't think the world is ready for the Mewla yap yet

"squiggleyapper, tell me about your favorite oc" "you couldn't handle my favorite oc, mutual. my favorite oc is fit for book, let alone a blogpost. you better go to a yapper who cooks normaler characters"

taunting aside, the problem with mewla is that she's such a damn complex girlboss queenfailure. to understand her, you need to know about the noble clan of asetari (importantly, her mother uvema, and to understand her you need to cover the second grand trial at least) as well as how their bloodline abilities works (which has at least three separate mechanics), and you need to understand the deal with the unbrood black ops, and as well as the context of the third grand trial

and even that's skipping over all the background needed to understand black nerve in the first place, which at this point is an intimidatingly complex setting to get into. and if you think any of that sounds interesting, i haven't even mentioned how her husband was a failed prophet or how she split in two then repeatedly cheated death to master the impossible art of intangibility, or the mundane stuff like her anti-fascist terrorism arc

...honestly, maybe it's me who's not ready to write about mewla :s

instead, i think i’ll try someone simpler first. (this is not me tempting fate, do not curl O monkey’s paw).

i’m gonna tell you about Prince Lucien Aetheart. i figure you’ll appreciate this, because he’s from the cometverse like Knight‍-​Commander Novus and Vela, whose fight i yapped about all those months ago

so, Prince Lucien. he’s an aethling, one born of noble blood in the kingdom of Extola. but let's a put a read more here for the people scrolling past this

now, the line of royal succession is a curious thing in this kingdom. you see, a thousand years ago, comets fell to earth. comets are eldritch horrors. they’re kaiju, natural disasters, CR 20 monsters. they’re unnatural. just being around them causes some Color Out of Space type shit.

as you can image, the cometfall invasion was an apocalypse for humanity. in the midst of that war for existence, there was a minor lord who would later rename himself Cyrex. he fought (survived, rather) the worst of the cometfall. Cyrex was an enchanter of mediocre skill, and he should have died like thousands of his betters.

but Cyrex had a wife: Uluna, a descendant of the moonsingers from a distant isle. she awakened a innate enchantment seemingly purpose‍-​built for fighting comets. so Uluna became the hero of humanity, banishing the comets with moonsong

and Cyrex capitalized on his position as the husband (owner, almost) of the Uluna. he declared himself a king, and waged war through the post‍-​apocalyptic medieval wasteland until his kingdom encompassed Extola.

with access to the greatest enchanters of a whole continent, and with all the worshipful gratitude directed toward Uluna, the king and queen were blessed with the finest boons of lifecanting there was.

but Cyrex had seen the worst of the cometfall. not only did he cling to life, he needed to become more, push beyond the limits of humanity until he might bear to think of a comet without trembling.

and, to make this long tangent short, he became more. so much more.

you see, the king of extola cannot die, and has ruled for over a thousand years.

thus, Lucien Aetheart was born his great, great, great (dozens omitted) grandson. he had the finest tutors — because refinement and sophistication is all a prince can aspire to. one of the first things taught to him is that, like some forty odd prince and princess before him, he will never sit on the throne.

Lucien’s parents died when he was six, and his aloof, dismissive tutors are the closest thing to family he grew up with. his parents died, and he would die, and what would any of it matter in the end?

he looks at the throne adorned with sanctified skulls, and decides no. he will be immortal, one day. he will be king. and if that means treason — well, subtlety and sophistication is what a prince can aspire to.

as a sidenote, i’ll briefly mention the Heirs of the Mother Void. this is a cult borne of the insight of Brother Lychon. Lychon was a cunning enchanter tragically cut down in his prime by his former best friend and burried in the ground. then he saw the light of the mother void, and rose again. “Death ain’t shit”, as he always says

you can understand why Lucien would be interested in a group — but lucien doesn’t, not at first. the heirs are secretive. in Book One of Aurora Moonrise, Lucien will be traveling the land in search of leads for the Heirs’ operations

this is how he crosses paths with the protagonist, a girl named Aurora. a few years younger than him, with no skill at enchanting worth speaking off — and yet she wields a masterwork crystal sword with perfect attunement. suffice it to say, Lucien’s interest is piqued.

throughout the second arc of the book, Lucien would training Aurora, as well as teaching the peasant girl noble manners. this puts him at odds with Morri, Aurora’s first friend, a girl born to a bandit with nothing but disdain for the nobility.

i wont recount what happens in detail, because this isn’t about them :p

but i will spill some ink discussing what the arc reveals about Lucien’s character. first of all, his personal enchantment is called ⸢Three Pledges Under Fire⸥

you see, he has an enchanted ring. with the hand wearing the ring (or any tool held in the hand, such as a weapon) whenever he touches something, he can ‘tag’ it.

he maintains a sense/awareness of all active tags.

these tags are otherwise undetectable and have no effect on the tagged object.

(in fact, tagging an object cannot have an effect — weapons will deal no damage)

each tag is one third of a spell. he must decide the spell when the tag is placed, and cannot change it later.

he can only have 3 tags at a time. if he already has 3 tags, he may choose one to revoke at will.

an object can only have one type of spell tag.

finally, the upshot of all of this. if he manages to place three tags on an object, he may snap his fingers and the spell takes place, exponentially more powerful, or with a dramatic new effect.

some examples of use: ‍-​ he lands a sword swing against you — yet it’s oddly dull and light, as if you were simply hit with a big stick. then again nothing, and finally come the third, you think you have nothing to fear from his blade. then he snaps his fingers and your arm falls off ‍-​ he throws himself out the way of your attack, falling to a crouch and tapping the ground. circling around, he overcommits to an attack, swinging downward till his hand touches the ground. you think nothing of it. and one last time, he taps the ground. still, nothing at all happens! you laugh and press the offense, swords clashing and sparking. when he maneuvers you over that spot, snaps his fingers, and the ground explodes beneath you ‍-​ he’s trying these above strats, and others. he parries your sword and there’s a telltale glow of him placing a tag. what’s he planning to do with your sword? in between placing other, he taps the bracer on his arm. but you’re pressing the offense hard enough he can hardly afford the distraction. he fumbles, you get an opening, and he tries to block it with his arm (ha. it’ll hurt regardless) — and he snaps his finger, and his arm resists you as solidly as a brick wall

as you might gather, the intent for him is to be something of a hypertactical chessmaster.

he’s prideful, though. do you recall the infodump last time about gravitas loci and how powerful it’s supposed to be? surely something like that would be uncontroversial tool in everyone enchanter’s toolbox. lucien disagrees:

Gravitas isn’t the culmination of enchanting in the slightest; it’s a dead end, a distraction. It’s a terrible idea, through and through — you’re relying on something outside of yourself as the source of your power. Something completely callous and inhuman, on top of that. Do you think the earth cares about you? Its only will is for all things to fall. Do you know what happens to people who lose themselves in earth‍-​resonance? We call them gemfiends.

so, what does Lucien think the real pursuit of enchanting is, then?

sorry advance for the chonky quote

Out in the gardens, Lucien walks with a rapier held out, gesturing as he lectures. “No doubt, you’ve come to understand that the bedrock of enchantment is will, the intent to use a tool with vigorous effort. The common enchanter will tell you the key to refining your will is understanding your tool, even going so far as to urge you to craft it yourself. After all, latent within the tool itself are those qualities an enchantment can amplify, or spells provoke. I cannot call them fools for this, but this parochial wisdom neglects what constitutes true, powerful enchanting.” Aurora frowns. “Will, intent, and focus. My teacher said all enchantment—” “I’m sure she was well‍-​intentioned. But it’s common advice for a reason. You can sell foci. You can teach mere intent to anyone. But will? What is will?” “Great enchanters have great wills,” Aurora echoed lamely. “People speak of it as if it were innate, as if the masters were born with willpowers inscribed in their destiny. The reason no one instructs will is because at its core, improving the will is painfully introspective, and terribly philosophical. Your will is what drives you. When you swing your sword, it is not enough to want to swing it. It is not enough, even, to want to cut your opponent. Cutting your opponent down must be the culmination of the very essence of your being. The most powerful enchantment is woven with a will that would falter no sooner than your will to live itself would fail you.” “You have to give it your all,” Aurora summarizes. “But then, you’d never want to run from any fight, if your will never ever faltered.” “Power is knowing yourself. You must know why you fight, and pick only those battles you must fight. There is a untold strength in being unfaltering. Have you heard of the Ultima Canto, Aurora? It is the greatest spell an enchanter can ever weave. The distillation of their will into one absolute truth, so powerful even eldritch spirits cannot violate it. But there is no way to ever speak the Ultima Canto without knowing oneself. So tell me, Aurora, what do you stand for?”

another thing worth knowing about lucien is that, like all nobles, he is a lifecanter, capable of healing the sick. this drives some of Aurora’s initial interest in him; she wants to know about lifecanting because Aurora’s first teacher had a terminal case of fantasy mentor disease and died in the first arc bc they couldn’t cure her.

(it turns out lifecanting wouldn’t have been able to save her — the disease that killed the mentor was also anime mom disease what took Lucien’s own parents from him, even though they had all the riches in the land.)

anyway, after some climatic drama, Aurora and Morri run away one morning before the break of dawn, just ahead of a court ruling that they are wanted as accomplices to a spirit enthralling humans unlawfully.

in the process, though, the pair wind up killing a baron, and this is how they cross paths with Lucien.

King Cyrex (he insists the prince call him ‘father’) knows that Lucien was there with the baron was killed and let the girls get away with it. so the king tells him to fix his mess, and bring them to justice

by now, the dryad maiden Kheimon has bound Aurora with her vines, and she is en route for the capital — but Morri still remains at large. so Lucien sets out on horseback to track down this wannabe bandit

i don’t think i’ve laid the ground work to properly hype this fight up. Morri is a cute character, i think. sidekick/rival vibes, Aurora fights her in one of the early chapters, defeats her, realizes their both grieving dead parents, and so she asks her to join the party.

she spends the rest of the first arc terribly unsung; Aurora’s mentor dislikes and is suspicious of her, refusing to teach her anything. we get some hints that Morri has unrevealed depths to her — she has a strong affinity for communing with spirits, and knows a thing or two about brewing potions. also, she has a hunting dog familiar made out of tree bark. a timberwolf :3

(actually, have i mentioned she’s a wolfgirl? cuz that’s a thing. dog ears, fluffy tail, and claws)

but there’s something big i’m glossing over. why is aurora’s mentor suspicious of her? how is she so capable of communing with spirits? is killing one random baron really enough to get a warrior‍-​prince sent to hunt you down?

who was Morri’s mother, anyway?

she was a witch, and she taught her daughter bloodcanting, a vile art considered a high crime by the crown — treason against human flesh.

you see, Morri uses blood sacrifice to commune with spirits and empower her attacks. she was sandbagging in her fight against Aurora, and after that she didn’t use much of her true power, at first first because Aurora’s mentor was always watching, and then once she came to care about Aurora, she didn’t want to offend her heroic sensibilities.

but now? Morri’s on her own, and Lucien really pisses her off.

so just this once, we see Morri go all out. using blood magic to tap into her canine nature, with magic claws and fangs and windswift speed.

it’s not enough to instantly win — Lucien has studied the blade all his life — but it’s close, and isn’t that embarassing? Lucien is a prince of the realm, and here was a lowborn bandit girl keeping pace with him.

a major reveal happens in this fight. remember how bloodcanting is treason against human flesh, but every noble is a lifecanter? what’s the difference between the two?

what’s the difference between Lucien and Morri?

Lucien says:

The difference? You’re right, it just comes down to wants in your veins, I suppose. I’m allowed to do anything, because I’m noble. You aren’t, because you’re nothing.

there’s character development for morri here too, but again, this isn’t about her. without that, it does make the conclusion to this fight feel a bit on the nose, but hey, i’m just yapping here

Morri goes:

Remember what you told Aurora, about will? Who do you think has the stronger will, between the two of us? To me, mister prince, you are everything I despise. But to you? I’m nothing.

all of this serves to give Lucien his first major character development. on the verge of being killed by a demihuman and witch, he awakens.

with rapier‍-​blade he slashes a circle in the ground and expands it. truly, he’s been reduced to chosing one embarrassment or the other — or was it an embarassment? what foolish pride it was to think he could ever achieve power without relying on anyone else.

after all, what’s a king without a kingdom?

with that thought, Lucien casts his Gravitas Loci for the first time.

…and he still doesn’t capture or kill Morri ;p

she escapes — she’s forced to run away — so at least he spares himself the embarassment of being bested by her.

Lucien drops from the narrative mainstage after that; this is Aurora’s story, after all. the climax of book one happens, and then there’s extended epilogue chapters showing what happens to various characters.

namely, it’s revealed that, after failing to capture Morri, the disappointed king strips the prince of honors and sends him down to fight on the frontlines fo the ongoing war to colonize the southern continent, Tinen.

thus kickstarting Lucien’s pov arc, “Salvation by Fire”. now, the notes i have for this section don’t hold up (originally, he was going to be placed under the command of Novus, but what happens here doesn’t line up with Novus’s later characterization, specifically his refusal to use ⸢Meteor Heart Explosion Pulse⸥ until Vela forces him too.)

but i should probably get on with what happens this arc

some hardass commander (not Novus) is trying to whip Lucien into shape, and failing. the prince has been sent to lead a squad of rookies to wet their feet attacking an enemy site. they venture into a forest; Lucien is scouting out ahead while others from his squad makes camp.

in the woods, Lucien encounters a girl younger than him. the girl spots him, and runs away scared, hiding a nearby bush. one of his soldiers, also scouting, comes to him, asking if Lucien saw anything. he thinks, and choses to say he saw nothing.

Lucien keeps scouting till he finds the enemy site his superior told him to raid. except he looks closer, and realizes it’s not a military base at all — it’s just a village. it’s just civilians.

he returns to camp and tells his squad he had no luck finding the base. while he’s keeping watch, he’s almost nodding off, but catches movement — it’s the girl, so desperately hungry she’s willing to raid a soldier’s camp for food.

Lucien’s confused. don’t they have farmland or whatever peasants do?

they did. then the extolan bastards burnt and salted it all.

luciens feeds the girl and tells her to be careful out there.

she laughs. there’s no way to be careful with extolan soldiers this close.

anyway, lucien returns to his superiors claiming he completely failed the mission assigned to him. the disappointment and discipline that results is obvious. worse, he soon overhears a crystal ball conversation between the commander and the king. king straight up doesnt care if Lucien lives or dies at this point. if he keeps being more trouble than he’s worth, just kill him lol.

as you can imagine, instead of sleeping that night the prince just stares into space, gripped with despair. his life’s forfeit. ‘immortal one day?’ ‘king one day?’ what a joke.

it’s his turn for night watch before he gets a lick of sleep. an hour or two in, he smells the acrid stench of smoke. the forest is on fire. he makes no effort to warn anyone to evacuate. what would be the point? what does any of this matter?

maybe it’s the sleep deprivation, maybe it’s the callous disregard of his “father” upseting him more then he realizes, but Lucien sees the distantly approach flames coming to consume the forest, and envies it. envy for the flames, or for the forest?

either way, he approaches. skin‍-​slicking heat, suffocating smoke, but he marches through it.

(if he dies here, what does it matter?)

a chapter would end there, followed by pov of the the girl. recounting how she had overheard lucien lying to his squad about her and helping her, intercut with impassionated rants about how much her life sucks and it’s the fault of the evil kingdom. after Lucien tells her to be careful, she instead keeps poking around — there’s almost nothing left in her village to go back to.

like that, she gets captured by soldiers. taken to a secret tent far from the main camp, and interrogated with spilled blood and screams. she contemplates whether starving in the dirt would be better than this.

and then the commander enters the tent. the ignorant girl was no use to their information‍-​gathering efforts — but the girl will give them information. in the form of experimental data. you see, in secret the commander’s been working to achieve something big

as the commander takes a knife and inscribes runes deep into the girl’s flesh, he makes small talk. rants, rather. one of the things that particularly vexes him as of late is the prince. the sheer lack of ambition in that boy is an insult. content to be a pampered prince, unwilling to put in the work to achieve true greatness. he can’t imagine living life in the shadow of giants and not trying to shine larger

which brings us to why this guy is vivisecting this girl. as you can imagine, he’s stuck in a shadow of his own — Knight‍-​Commander Novus is the metric by which all commanders are found wanting. this is its own insult. the spell that made Novus so great is one that man refuses to ever cast again.

thus, the commander has been attempting to replicate what Novus was afraid of — ⸢Meteor Heart Explosion Pulse⸥. he’s going to turn her into a enchanted object.

the commander knows Novus’s spell is one that somehow uses lifeforce to fuel an explosion, but the details elude him. by the time he finishes carving, it’s all quiet; he’s run low on rants, and she’s run low on screams.

now, all that’s left is for the soldiers to plant his new bomb near the enemy base, detonate and watch the lightshoq. he regard the girl with smile. “thank you, dear. this might be the most help any of you people have ever been. you’ll go down in history for this.”

and in that moment, with those words and that smug smile, all of the hatred for Extola comes rushing back in a maelstorm. and then…

it’s incorrect to say that this commander turned her into an enchanted object — life itself is spell, and every beat of the heart enchants the flesh and every breathe in a incantation. sure, it was the commander’s enchantment now carved onto her body — but it was her body.

fear shines bright in his eyes now — not fear, fire. the spell had activated, under her will, and blazes out in a deadly wreathe of flames now. his flesh is first so much sweat and then so much bubbling fat. he’d run low on rants, but he still had plenty of screams left.

and although the girl had no screams left, she had plenty to rant about. every indignity forced upon her people. every brag and whinge the commander spoke now twisted againsts him. every insult he had for Lucien, and yet that boy might be the most help any of you bastards has ever been. “you wouldn’t have less of a heart if i ripped it out of your chest.”

hatred crackles around the girl, and power newly awakened and surging. she’s cackling mania, and she hardly notices that her tormentors had become piles of ash. years starving, helping, clawing at the dirt, and now she can feast on all the raw energy of conflagration.

the forest goes up in flames — and in the end, she becomes exactly what the commander hoped to create.

her village lay in that forest. as she becomes an elemental of ever‍-​spiraling flame, she can’t stop burning any more than you could stop shivering in the cold.

she’s all intuition and knee‍-​jerk associations of thought. so when her village erupts, when everyone she knows and loves is a chorus of screams, she thinks of the soldiers she’d burnt to a crisp and how they screamed.

ultimately, she’s but crackling hatred and exhilerating power. the maddening part of becoming a weapon to destroy her people is that it’s so fucking satisfying.

and then so much of the forest is alight that there’s so little left to feast upon. she’s peaked and coming down. she’s hatred — not crackling but crumbling like wood ashes in horror of what she’s done: self‍-​hatred.

and then that boy is standing there, staring into her flames, into her.

if she could immolate her own flesh and blood, she could certainly burn another extolan bastard who’s sole virtue was not being the literal worst.

except her family screamed and fled like her tormenters. Lucien doesn’t scream nor move.

he stares, and his visage of despair looks so much like the expression on that face she once had

the girl‍-​turned‍-​elemental burns herself out, and at length, she discovers that she does, in fact, still have a body: a skeleton disfigured by runes and caked in ash. she’s not human, anymore, but nor is she a fiend. she’s something known in theory and legend.

comet spirits were the light of stars caged in ice. nature spirits were the light of one sun sprouted from air. (elusive weather spirits were but nature spirits with monk‍-​like abnegation)

a wildfire spirit is the light of lives lost to the pyre.

(the first life, of course, being her own)

Lucien had lost everything; his king forsook him, his squad is dead, and soon he’ll be too, if he reports back admitting he let this all happen. when the wildfire spirit speaks to him, tells him who she was and what was done to them with a numb voice, he’s outrage.

in that moment, his despair wanes, eclipsed by an emotion he’d never felt before, and never this strongly. once again, the wildfire is pained to see his visage mirror her own; he hates.

but he won’t hate face down in the dirt. the general thought he lacked ambition? no, he had a goal.

he looks back at the wildfire spirit, and holds out his hand.

“let’s burn that kingdom to the fucking ground.”

so, after all that payoff, i’ll end with more teasing.

remember how i said i wanted to talk about Lucien Aetheart? yeah, i lied. i actually wanted to talk about Myrka of the Mother Void, but, when i’m 4k words in and this isn’t even what i planned to do today, i think i can be excused. before getting from here to Myrka, we’d need to talk about Lilianna and Kheimon and Erato.

if it makes for a better defense, there’s also the fact that Book Two is a mess and needs a rewrite, or at least some kind of organization, and what ultimately happens to Lucien is deeply entangled with that plot.

if you read all that… wow, you really did want the yapping. thanks for bearing with me. sorry and/or you’re welcome

<3

[ouroborosorder]

Arknights VFX question: Any highlights or personal favourites as far as the "Stick a whole background/huge jpeg in there behind the character" category of skills goes?

Oh I like this question. This made me consider things I've never looked at before, so thank you for that. I had to do research.

So, there's not a lot of ops like this, and shockingly, I don't have many positive things to say about them. BUT I did find a few interesting highlights I think are worth discussing.

First off, I will leave Eine Variation out of this, as I have made my thoughts on that Thing very clear.

But, my favorite skin in the game actually does indeed have the Background.Jpeg - Specter's As One!

Aaaand it's easily the worst part of my favorite skin. Don't get me wrong, i think it's probably one of the better executions of the idea, since it's like, a skybox, it matches the pallette, matches the artstyle of the skin, it's almost perfect. I wish it was a LITTLE less static, maybe have some distortion ripples across it like waves to keep the stars moving, or maybe have them twinkle a bit or something. But it's fine. But a good effect isn't everything.

Effects relies heavily on the principles of animation, too. Appeal, weight, color, and most importantly of all - timing. Having a proper lead in can make a bad effect good, and having a bad lead-in can make a good effect fucking terrible. And having no lead-in at all will absolutely fuck your effect and make it super clear that you took a jpeg from the skin art and superimposed it behind your operator.

Here. Look at the picture above. Now, I am going to tab back literally just one single frame in the animation and...

oh ...there's no fade in at all. It just literally appears in a single frame. It draws way more attention to itself than it needs to just by virtue of literally popping in. It's SUPER obvious that it's just Skybox.jpeg. If it faded in with some sort of noise mask (which takes literally less than 2 minutes to make,) it would be so so so much better. Again, this is my favorite skin in the game, and I already think S3 is quite beautiful, so this is nitpicking, but this skybox always bugged me a lot.

Now to say a sentence no one has ever said - going up a step in quality from Specter to Hoederer!

I can't fully get this one in a still image and I'm too tired to record a video / gif so just go with this, alright?

This one is ALMOST GOOD. ALMOST. IT'S SO FUCKING CLOSE. The texture is being distorted by a wavelike noise that is giving it the rippling effect of fire, which is the standard thing to do for making a stylized fire. The problem is that... The texture itself doesn't fucking move? It's just being UV distorted, just a bit of offset to the material and I just AUGH.

It's so so so obvious that it's just a static jpeg of fire that's being waved around like a flag to get it to contort into being fire. This wouldn't bother me if the actual fire texture didn't have implications of movement in the little waves and fades and stuff. I hate it it's so irritating it's so CLOSE. But also, animating an entire fire flipbook would have taken a lot more time, and I can 100% guarantee you the VFX artist is also unhappy with this one. Their A team was probably on Arturia or something. Speak of the devil -

I've had a few people ask how I feel about Arturia's S3 after I expressed my hatred for Eine Variation, and I am here to say - this unambiguously fucking rules, for a few reasons.

First and least importantly, THE MONSTER MOVES. The monster itself has slight movement, you can notice its arms wiggle a little and mouth open and close. This is a small thing that goes a LONG way to make it feel way more dynamic and alive. It's also being distorted by a noise like Hoederer is, which is quite nice as a touch, really helps to make that limited movement feel way more significant than it is.

Second, is that the texture is monochromatic, but in a different way than Arturia is. The grays are colder, harsh blue-grays to contrast Arturia herself, who is a very warm gray. This makes it so that it adds a really nice background that looks like part of her, while also standing out and allowing her to stand out against it. It's a really smart use of monochrome to create visual interest using just different subtle shades of gray.

But that bluish hue also serves to compliment the only color in the effect - the blue light from the cello. Your eyes are naturally drawn to brighter glowing things, which is also the only colored spot on the effect - the cello from which her Arts emerge. As a result, the Beastie.jpg fades out of your attention, becoming monochromatic noise, which, due to being just kinda chaotic and aesthetically dissonant, you interpret more as abstract Shape than anything else. That abstract shape then makes a cone which leads you down into Arturia's center, which is her cello, which is where her Arts are coming from.

This is basically to say - These are very emblematic of what I think makes good effects textures in general. They work best when they're not alone. When these backgrounds are part of a larger whole that's all coming together to make an effect, rather than being the centerpiece of the whole thing. When I notice the background, it's a problem, in my eyes. Maybe people disagree. They keep putting them in skins, and a lot of people thought the Eine Variation goat was cool as hell, so clearly I'm in the wrong here, but hey. Who gives a shit.

I'm sure there's way more examples of this, (actually I know there are,) but I'm extremely tired and need to go the fuck to sleep. If there's any particular backgrounds ya'll want me to take a look at, lemme know and I'll get back to you when I've woken from my dread slumber.